People usually say single-row nets can only be used with wall-type orchards. But what if growers have other types of orchards? Davide Modigliani from Cesenatico, with the help of technicians from Consorzio Agrario Adriatico, decided to modify them to fit his own orchards.
The nets installed by Modigliani with the help of Consorzio Agrario Adriatico.
"I believe anti-rain nets are no longer enough to produce high-quality cherries. Protection must be total so as to defend cherries against insects such as flies and Drosophila. Still, I don't want to use wall-type orchards as I'm achieving good results with what I have. Nets must meet my needs and not vice versa."
Net closing system.Modigliani asked technicians from Consorzio Agrario Adriatico to modify support arches to obtain nets wide enough to cover the rows. The result was triangular arches supporting two 5.5 metre nets joined to become 11 metres wide. The varieties cultivated under nets are Sweet Early, Durone and Corniola and the orchard covers 3,000 sq m.
Modigliani under a net.Andrea Rossi, technician from Consorzio Agrario Adriatico, explained that anti-Drosophila nets have 1 mm x 0.8 mm holes while anti-rain nets have 40 tenths holes.
Cherry orchard covered in nets.
The grower was very pleased with the result as traps under the nets didn't capture any insect, meaning the covers work. "I didn't even have to carry out any treatments. Outside of the nets, the traps captured various insects."
As an additional precaution, Modigliani does not leave waste fruit on the ground, but it buries it so insects have less substrate to reproduce.
Net supports.
"Harvesting is not difficult as the nets are very wide. This is a very important aspect for me, as I focus on high-quality and grades and harvest multiple times."
Monitoring trap.As regards the current market situation, Modigliani is only partly satisfied. "I sell a lot directly and it's going well as clients verify the quality of my produce. Things are slower in supermarkets and wholesale markets, but I can't complain."
The grower received no subsidy to install these new protections. "It's not fair that the EU or the Region, who receive money from our taxes, discriminate between growers. I believe professionalism should be considered instead of membership to a cooperative or PO."
In the future, Modigliani aims at covering all orchards so as to guarantee an excellent quality, protect crops from insects, rain and hail and reduce treatments to a minimum.
"Unfortunately there is no general project for the entire agricultural sector. Integrated and organic agriculture haven't been economically viable so far as prices do not cover the cost of investments such as these nets. Unless things change, we will be increasingly less competitive."
Source - http://www.freshplaza.com
